When it comes to pursuing God’s will it is important to ask ourselves if we are truly open to knowing God’s will. Once we decide to consider God’s will we may still close our minds to knowing his will because of what we suspect it will be. Are we really open to whatever he may desire? Are we really open to changing our thoughts or plans? We may convince ourselves that we are pursuing his will when in fact we are only rationalizing our own attitudes or actions.
For major decisions it may take weeks to discern whether we are truly open to God’s will. For example, someone who falls in love with another and wants to marry them may be closed to God’s will unless they spend a lot of time gradually opening up to God. The more investment and momentum we have in a particular direction the more difficult it is to be open to knowing God’s will. Thus, in order to be truly open to God’s will our prayer time before God needs to be proportionate to the issue at hand. And we need to ask ourselves if we are avoiding what we suspect is God’s will because we don’t think we will like it. This avoidance is especially destructive.
Consider how many believers have missed out on God’s grace or fallen into grievous sin because they were not truly open to knowing God’s will. Many don’t want to be open because they don’t want the pain of possibly letting go of what they are attached to. If we are not brutally honest with ourselves we are just setting ourselves up for regret as well as quenching the Holy Spirit.
“Consider how many believers have missed out on God’s grace or fallen into grievous sin because they were not truly open to knowing God’s will.”
Are you avoiding dealing with a psychological issue? Are you persisting in dysfunctional treatment of others? Are you persisting in poor leadership behavior? Are you avoiding the voices of those who might critique your work or behavior? Are you avoiding a difficult conversation you need to have? Are you lightly indulging in an addictive substance or addictive viewing behavior? Are you meeting someone you shouldn’t be meeting with? We can avoid the damage to our Spiritual life, and to others, if we will accept the pain of facing God’s will.
Or consider how much energy is wasted by congregations (and businesses, schools, families, etc.) because important decisions were not thoughtfully brought before God by the leaders. Shouldn’t leadership teams spend some time together in prayer and listening to the Spirit? It may be hard to give up on what seems like a great ministry idea but think of how much trouble congregations can avoid by letting God direct their energies somewhere else. If we will be seriously open to the Spirit’s guidance, then he will come through for us. We won’t be infallible but we will be far more effective.
When we don’t really want to be open to God’s will we can at least take a step in the right direction by spending time with God telling him that we why we don’t want to be open to his will. We can express our desires and fears and pain. We may even be angry. But if we spend time alone with God then he may be able to open our eyes and show us the better way. He can soften our heart and illuminate our mind so that we can begin to open up to his will.
